Sunday, April 30, 2017

Tatsu Japanese Cuisine @ Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur

A Destination for Japanese Cuisine

The
acclaimed Tatsu Japanese Cuisine at Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur has
launched a new menu filled with an eclectic mix of classic and modern Japanese
cuisine. No stranger to our Japanese culinary scene, Tatsu has always been a favorite hotspot for many avid Japanese
food lovers.

Tatsu, derived from Tatsu-jin, means master or expert. The elegant and stylish
restaurant offers a gorgeous modern interior that incorporates Japanese
aesthetics with contemporary yet minimalist design.

Dark
timber woods with splashes of sea cobalt blue and white creates a harmonious
and Zen dining ambiance. Soft lighting creates further calming illusions to let
diners dine at ease and end the evening with sumptuous Japanese dishes and
sakes.

The
whole restaurant is cleverly designed with several dining areas to offer diners
privacy. Opt for the bar area for casual and cozy lounge with glass walls to
offer diners a breathtaking view of the beautifully landscaped garden and
cascading water. There’s also a teppanyaki room, main public dining area and
quite a few private dining rooms as options.

Catch some live sushi actions at the glorious sushi bar that displays the freshest seafood flown in twice a week from Japan to be served with hand-grated fresh wasabi.

There
is a whole glass room showcasing Tatsu’s
amazing list of sakes, shochu and other liqueurs never cease to impress me.
Glowing beautifully, shelves of bottles of sakes, whisky and more will
certainly tempt you into having some with your meal.

Dining
in one of the private rooms that evening, Chef Tommy Kuan serves up signatures
of Tatsu’s new menu. Sashimi takes on a new style here at Tatsu with New Style Sashimi with Yuzu Soy and Heated
Sesame Oil (RM48). Slices of kampachi sashimi is served with chef’s yuzu
soy sauce and finished with hot sesame oil drizzle, elevating luscious salty,
citrusy and umami flavours to the fish.

The
Shrimp-Stuffed Shiitake with Butter
Ponzu (RM38) is perfect with beer, sake or even wine. Bouncy and sweet
shrimp paste goes so well with the earthy Shitake mushrooms. One can’t help but
to get addicted to these delectable morsels that is made even better with a
buttery ponzu sauce. Hand me a beer please…

It
may sound French but the dish of Crispy
Duck Confit on Sprouts and Japanese Spinach with Sesame Vinaigrette (RM47)
takes on classic Japanese flavours. Using confit technique, Chef Kuan renders
the duck to much tenderness before shredding it and frying it karaage style to crispiness. The crispy
duck goes very well with the nutty spinach and beansprout.

One
don’t need a lot of ingredients all the time to create a scrumptious dish. The Rock Shrimp Tempura with Creamy Chilli
Garlic Sauce (RM98) showed minimalist ingredients and yet, it was a solid
A+ dish. Though its not rock shrimp as per its name, the prawns were large,
juicy and bouncy. Glazed in creamy and spicy garlicy chili sauce, these
crustaceans were very tasty and addictive as well.

Classics
like Dobin Mushi (RM35) is always a
crowd pleaser. Served in a dobin mushi pot, the clear seafood broth was
soothing and delicious. A gentle squeeze of lime enhances the seafood essence
even more and one can also enjoy the pieces of seafood and chicken in the pot.

The
limelight of the evening was the Australian
Wagyu (200gm, RM420) served on heated Himalayan salt block. A luscious
marbling No.9, the wagyu only needs 30 seconds on the salt block for medium
doneness. Utterly divine, the wagyu was superbly tender. Because of the high
marbling fat content, the wagyu has such amazing buttery and moreish flavours
that is simply irresistible.

Paired
with some Shimeji mushrooms, the wagyu also came with a side ume and miso
sauce. I simply prefer the wagyu as it is as the heated salt already gave the
wagyu its much needed salt flavour. Though a tad salty, probably due to the
fact that because we took a bit too long in taking photos, the wagyu still
tasted amazing.

The
Green Tea Salt Crusted Lamb Chops with
Japanese Sour Plum Sauce (RM64) was the only dish that was too salty for my
liking honestly. A bit of scraping off that special green tea salt and the lamb
was yummy again. We did feedback to Chef Kuan to go on easier with that green
tea salt. Other than the salt, the lamb was cooked beautifully, rendering much
tenderness and juiciness that we really enjoyed.

Slow Cooked Beef Short Ribs with
Garlic Barbecue Sauce
(RM98) is another mouthwatering delight. The meaty beef short ribs is steamed
and then covered in Chef Kuan’s garlic barbeque sauce before being finished on
the teppanyaki. Served with spring onions and golden potato nugget, the ribs
were fork tender and well-flavoured with savory, sweetness, smoky and hints of
garlicky notes. This mammoth beef rib is big enough to share unless you’re a
big carnivore eater!

The
evening ended with a pretty and sinful Chocolate
Tart and Caramelised Yuzu (RM35). Dark, luscious and velvety chocolate
ganache is set beautifully on short crust pastry, crowned with green tea
whipped cream and finished with strawberries, edible gold and white chocolate
feather. A very awesome way to end the evening on a sweet and high note.

Tatsu Japanese Cuisine is a proud recipient of the
Certificate of Excellence award by Tripadvisor
and listed by Malaysia Tatler as one
of Malaysia’s Best Restaurants for
exceptional cuisine and service in 2016. For reservations, call Tatsu at 03
2782 6118 or email the team at tatsu@intercontinental-kl.com.my.